Summary
Remote Memory Disclosure in bittorrent-dht
Versions of bittorrent-dht prior to 5.1.3 are affected by a remote memory disclosure vulnerability. This vulnerability allows an attacker to send a specific series of of messages to a listening peer and get it to reveal internal memory.
There are two mitigating factors here, that slightly reduce the impact of this vulnerability:
- Any modern kernel will zero out new memory pages before handing them off to a process. This means that only memory previously used and deallocated by the node process can be leaked.
- Node.js manages Buffers by creating a few large internal SlowBuffers, and slicing them up into smaller Buffers which are made accessible in JS. They are not stored on V8's heap, because garbage collection would interfere. The result is that only memory that has been previously allocated as a Buffer can be leaked.
Impact
Affected versions
Security releases
Kodem intelligence
Severity tells you how bad this could be in the worst case. It does not tell you whether you are exposed. Exploitability and impact are functions of runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A vulnerable package can sit in your dependency tree and never run.
Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter. Kodem's runtime-powered SCA identifies whether this CVE is reachable in your applications.
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Update to version 5.1.3 or later.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is CVE-2016-10519? CVE-2016-10519 is a medium-severity security vulnerability in bittorrent-dht (npm), affecting versions < 5.1.3. It is fixed in 5.1.3.
- Which versions of bittorrent-dht are affected by CVE-2016-10519? bittorrent-dht (npm) versions < 5.1.3 is affected.
- Is there a fix for CVE-2016-10519? Yes. CVE-2016-10519 is fixed in 5.1.3. Upgrade to this version or later.
- Is CVE-2016-10519 exploitable, and should I be worried? Whether CVE-2016-10519 is exploitable in your environment depends on whether the vulnerable code is present and reachable. A CVSS score is a worst-case rating; it does not account for your specific deployment, configuration, or usage patterns. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to show which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so you can focus on the ones that represent real risk. Get a demo
- What actually determines whether CVE-2016-10519 is exploitable, and how bad it is? Exploitability and impact are not fixed properties of a CVE. They depend on runtime truth: whether the vulnerable code is present, reachable, and actually executes in your application. A high CVSS score on a dependency that never runs is not the same as real risk. Kodem, an Intelligent Application Security platform, uses runtime intelligence to reveal which vulnerabilities actually execute in production, so teams prioritize the ones that genuinely matter.
- How do I fix CVE-2016-10519? Upgrade
bittorrent-dhtto 5.1.3 or later.